The Great Invitation
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
In our busy and performance based culture today, worry and anxiety are felt by the majority of people to some varying degree. What often times that leads to is extreme weariness and pressure. In Scripture, God offers us two invitations in dealing with this:
- Come to Him
- Take His yoke and learn from Him
Who is to come? The weary and burdened—the person who is laboring and heavy laden, weary and burdened, exhausted and despairing, extremely tired and weighed down, ready to stop and collapse. Why should they come to him? Christ will give them rest. No matter how intense the struggle and despair or the emptiness and loneliness, Christ will give rest. No person has gone too far for Christ to inject His rest into them—if the person will only call upon Christ.
Why should a person take up the yoke of Christ? Why should a person begin to learn of Christ? Christ is gentle and humble. He cares and looks after us; He is concerned and compassionate knowing how far we can go and how capable we are. He made us; therefore, He has the right yoke for us. By taking Christ’s yoke and learning of him you are learning how to live and labor under His leadership, direction, guidance, and care. He is the only one who can teach and assure true rest (of body, mind, and spirit) and the only yoke that really fits and proves to be easy.
Study Questions:
- What are you dealing with today that is causing extreme weariness and pressure? How have you been dealing with it?
- What does it look like for you to “come to Him”?
- Is it hard for you to lay down your anxieties and worries and take up the yoke of Christ?
- How can you rest in this truth going into the new year?